Contrary to widespread belief that naval power and overseas colonies were anathema to the liberal conception of the German nation, both were in fact essential to the national-liberal understanding of what characterised a successful nation-state. An analysis of a wide variety of contributions in Ernst Keil's ostensibly apolitical periodical Die Gartenlaube illustrates how this liberal vision of the German nation-state as a first-rank Weltmacht was endorsed in popular cultural discussions of the role and future of the German nation abroad during the 'pre-colonial' era.